Well, today's headline is the snow. Paul wasn't exactly dying to frolic and romp in it like the Bob Jones students, but he tolerated it well, and it certainly inspired curiosity. He, like his parents, was glad Daddy could be here to enjoy it since the bank decided to open an hour later due to the inclement weather.

Sneaky Paul

Okay, this all took place on the same day on three separate occasions. Paul would be playing happily on the floor on a blanket, and I'd be loading the dishwasher or something, and I'd come in to find him ignoring all his cool toys in favor of (respectively) his own cave, a burkha, or a mini canyon. This was the day I realized that he will no longer confine himself to a blanket and have hereafter opted for the rug--to which he, incidentally, will not long be confined either.

Life with Paul

Paul is really enjoying being home with Mommy all the time. At least, I'm sure he must be; Mommy is sure loving it. Crawling is in sight. Paul will not remain on the floor long without popping up on his hands and knees. Then he'll rock back and forth like, "There's got to be more to it than this." If he sees something he wants, he gets to it somehow though. For example, if a toy (especially his truck) is in front of him but out of reach, he'll pop up, stare at it, rock, lunge forward, land on his tummy, and wave his arms and legs around as if to say, "Hmm. Seems like this should work." He'll catch on.

Now for the pictures.



Paul before our walk to the duck pond. Turns out it was like 65 degrees, so he was a tad overdressed. But don't you love the hat?










My friend from college, Carolyn Jones, was in town for Christmas. We had the same Thursday class schedule our first semester, we both changed our majors from church music to speech, we traveled on drama teams 2 consecutive semesters, we were engaged the same summer, she got married the month after I did, and her due date for Samantha was 4 days after Paul's. Here's Paul trying to instruct Samantha that pictures are serious matters, not to joke around about.



Here's Paul in his sweats with the remote.















Paul learning the fine art of rough-housing on the floor with Daddy.










Paul's early crawling attempts.

Christmas Pictures

Papa and Haddon















Christmas with Jeffcotts












Where's Paul?














"I'm getting into the Christmas thing."












Christmas with the Crockers

"This is nice. How does it work?"














"I just love taking walks."













"Can you do this?"














"What should I build?"














Paul loves the baby in the mirror!

Pictures of the Jumperoo

Rainforest Jumperoo

All right. I know you've seen cute video of Paul in the past, but this, you will agree, is the best one yet. Okay, Jon and I decided to give Paul his Christmas present early so he can get an extra month's worth of enjoyment out of it. We picked it up at Target last evening and put it together for him. It was right before bedtime when he finally got to ride in it, but he still had some quality time bouncing. See, the one in the church nursery doesn't have batteries (for obvious reasons), but this one lights up and plays music if it moves. So, Paul figures out right away that when he bounces, the toy lights up, a song plays, and the elephant makes a sound. This was fascinating. He would pause and stare at the thing until it stopped blinking, beeping, and elephanting (or however elephants go). Then when it was quiet, he'd wave his arms and move around so the toy would rock and the show would start again. We happened to catch one of these cycles with the camera. I'm thinking of submitting it to Fisher Price in case they want it for a commercial.

Gentlemanbug outfit

Here are some more photos of Paul taken shortly after his Saturday night bath. He's wearing his "gentlemanbug" pajamas. The hat was unbelievably cute, but it really did a number on his hair. We resorted to the blow dryer before Sunday School, but it didn't keep him from looking like one of those pencils you twirl to relieve stress.

The other picture is one I sneaked while they weren't looking.

Thumb story

Paul has found his thumb. It's super cute. You'll want the sound for this video. I apologize for the footage of the wall. I don't remember doing that.

Anyway. We thought Paul was progressing pretty well with consistently finding his thumb when he wanted it, but we had no idea just how well until this morning after church. . .

We were talking with some folks who were noting things about Paul like how much hair he has and how he's so much bigger than many 3-month-old babies, and how he looks so grown up, etc., etc. Well, he began to put his right thumb in his mouth. Jon reached over and pulled his hand away playfully. Paul grinned at him and popped his thumb right back in his mouth. Jon pulled it away and held his hand. Paul, grinned even bigger and proceeded to stick his other thumb in his mouth--demonstrating not only his great manual dexterity, but also his control over the situation.

Random Pictures

"I love this car seat."












"Whoa. That's a NICE camera!"











"Mommy. They're not supposed to know I cry."











Paul likes to play on the floor (for a little while).











El Pato Pablo

Paul recently noticed that his mobile over his crib is a pretty fun toy. He'll look at it and try to sing with it sometimes.

Growing up

Paul's getting to be a big boy. Here he is hanging on for dear life in his swing.









Aunt Jamie likes to do his hair.












Here he is in his cute bug overalls from Aunt Cheryl and his giraffe shoes from Mrs. Jill.















A couple of guys from the 2005 Spanish Mission Team showed Paul some pictures from the summer. Note the shirt. It was a gift from the Casillas twins.














And last, but not least, here's a little number I've entitled "Duck Hunter."

Boppy

Here's Paul playing on Boppy!

Playing

Paul has just begun to start taking notice of toys. He enjoyed his new vantage point from Boppy yesterday, but he was more interested in eating Boppy than in playing with the toys.

We went up yesterday to the missions displays for Bob Jones's Missions Emphasis Week. We saw several people who remembered Jon from his time in the Missions Office. Needless to say, with such a cute baby tagging along this time, he did not make fast progress through the displays. But Paul loved all the attention!

I've included some pictures of us after our walk the other day. Paul is now sitting in the "big boy" part of the stroller instead of the car seat that attaches. He was rather proud of the accomplishment as you can see.

"Talking"

It's been fascinating to observe his "language acquisition." He is loving the "ooh" sound. So far, the only other vowel sounds he's making is one that's not in English--kind of an "eh/oh" combo--and the short "a" sound every once in a while (as seen in the video), but he usually sticks with "ooh" and "goo." The "g" in "goo" is placed pretty far back in his mouth. I think he's actually using the sides of the back of his tongue rather than the top most of the time, but occasionally he'll let out a clear "g" sound. I think sometimes he just gets a kick out of watching Daddy and Mommy try to reproduce his sounds! Here are some of them for your viewing enjoyment.

Charlotte

Last weekend we were in Charlotte visiting Grandmother and Granddaddy Crocker. Paul also go to meet Uncle J for the first time (awake) as well as Great Grandmother and "Big Mac" McCarson. He is a little charmer. He seems to know what people will think is cute. He's a very happy baby, and he loves attention. He can always count on grandparents to give him plenty of that!

Yesterday we went to see Aunt Jamie play in her society league championship volleyball game. Paul loved watching the action, and he even joined in one of the cheers. It's getting to feel like fall here, so we put on Mrs. Nix's sweater for the first time. Here are a couple of pictures of that.

While he's asleep. . .

Here are a few more!